Eternal Devotion
by TheFifthCharmedOne
Summary: "After all this time Severus?" Dumbledore asked, his face sad for his friend. "Always." Severus replied devotedly. Snippets of Snape's life, showing his never wavering devotion for Lily Potter.


Eternal Devotion

By: TheFifthCharmedOne

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Nope, no I don't.

Summary: "After all this time Severus?" Dumbledore asked, his face sad for his friend. "Always." Severus replied devotedly. Snippets of Snape's life, showing his never wavering devotion for Lily Potter.

-X-X-X-

_May, 1976_

Severus Snape, a fifth year half-blood Slytherin student at Hogwarts was sitting by one of the oak trees on Hogwarts grounds when he was approached by the Marauders. The Marauders were a group of four troublemaking Gryffindor boys, their leader being James Potter, Severus's most hated rival.

"Come on, Moony, Padfoot!" James cajoled his friends. Severus never understood those nicknames, he thought they were quite childish and stupid. "Snape!" James called to him.

Severus stood up and raised his wand to James, only for James to cast the Disarming Charm.

"Nice one James," Sirius told his friend, and James grinned cockily. Severus searched for his wand, but it was too far away for a Summoning Charm.

"_Impedimenta,_" Severus's body completely froze, furthering his inability to defend himself. The crowd around them had become large and they were cheering for James. Severus was livid. "Right, who wants to see me take off Snivelly's trousers?" He revealed Severus's underwear while he was in midair. Severus was beyond furious.

"Potter!" a shrill cry of anger made James turn away from Severus, while the latter was still up in the air. Lily Evans, a red-haired Muggle born witch, stomped toward the group. Severus was still so angry at James that he wasn't even thinking about being grateful for his best friend's arrival. "Leave him alone!"

"You think you're funny, but you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him _alone._"

"I will if you go out with me Evans. Go on, go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid!" James, frowning, took the curse off of Severus. Lily went to his side, her face sympathetic.

Severus, still angry and humiliated, glared at Lily when she tried to help him.

"Get away from me, you filthy Mudblood." Severus growled. Lily's eyes widened and angry tears shone in their emerald depths.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK SNIVELLUS! APOLOGIZE TO EVANS!" James roared. Lily turned on him, her fists clenched and her face red with rage and embarrassment.

"You're just as bad as he is!"

"What? I'd NEVER call you a—you-know-what!"

"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just gotten off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you because you can—I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."

She glared at the both of them and then left, her dark red pigtails shining in the sunlight as she ran for the castle.

This would forever be Snape's worst memory.

-X-X-X-

_June, 1976_

"I never meant to call you a Mudblood, it just-"

"Slipped out? It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends…you've chosen your way, I've chosen mine." She left him behind, never looking back.

In that moment, he vowed to always love her, even if she never befriended him again.

-X-X-X-

Severus watched Lily fall in love with James, helpless to stop it. He knew that once Lily had her mind set on something, or someone, that there was no changing it.

-X-X-X-

_June, 1978_

"You'll never love her like I do Potter." Severus told James at their graduation in June of 1978. Lily and James were together now, and Severus hated James more than ever. Lily was on the stage receiving her diploma. She was beautiful, not that Severus expected any different.

"You're right. I'll love her _more _than you ever could." James replied, not looking at the Slytherin boy.

-X-X-X-

_January 9, 1980_

Severus sat at the Hog's Head pub, slowly nursing a firewhiskey. The pub was fairly empty, and Severus preferred this over a crowd. Today was his twentieth birthday and the one person he wanted to celebrate it with was married to another man. He was a Death Eater now, the Dark Mark was tattooed on his arm. He knew he had nothing else to fight for, seeing as Lily couldn't stand him. But no matter what, he would always love her.

He took a quick gulp of the drink and looked around. There weren't many people around, but off in the corner, he did see the familiar face of Albus Dumbledore, his professor and friend. He started to approach him, but then he saw another. A woman with large eyes and even bigger glasses. Her hair was curly and stringy, the color of chestnuts. Instead of approaching the two, Severus hid behind them, hearing part of a prophecy that changed him forever.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…"

"You, get out! You've been creeping around here far too long. Get out of my bar, now!" Aberforth Dumbledore shoved Severus out of the bar, into the cold night. He couldn't hear anymore of the prophecy, but he had a horrible feeling that told him Lily was somehow involved. He went to the Dark Lord, not knowing what else to do.

-X-X-X-

"Thank you for this information Severus," the Dark Lord hissed, his voice like a snake. Severus faced the dark wizard, his stomach churning painfully. "I know who the child is…the child of the only people who have thrice defied me…Lily and James Potter…"

Severus felt sick. "The only way to stop the prophecy is for them to die. All of them." Severus could do nothing as the evil wizard planned the Potters' deaths.

-X-X-X-

_January 11__th__, 1980_

"The—the prophecy…the prediction…Trelawney! He thinks it means Lily Evans!" Snape had gone to Dumbledore as soon as he possibly could. Dumbledore was the only one the Dark Lord ever feared, and he had always been a friend to Severus, even in his boyhood. Albus was the only one who could protect Lily entirely.

"The prophecy did not refer to a woman. It spoke of a boy born at the end of July-" Albus tried to reason.

"You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down—kill them all-"

"What do you suppose I do, Severus?" Albus asked calmly despite the other man's worry and stress. "Hide her? She won't go without James, and she is pregnant with his child…"

"Hide them all, then! Keep her—them—safe. Please!" Severus begged the Hogwarts Headmaster.

"And what will you give me in return, Severus?" Severus looked at him, finally regaining his composure.

"In—in return? Anything." he answered, his voice deathly serious. Albus regarded him thoughtfully, and after a few minutes, he agreed to hide the Potters.

-X-X-X-

_October 31__st__, 1981_

"That fool Dumbledore had them hidden from me! But now, with your help Wormtail, I've found them!" Voldemort smiled maliciously. "It's time for the Potters to greet their fate. James, Lily, and Harry Potter will all die tonight!" the Death Eaters cheered. The only quiet one was Severus Snape, and before the Dark Lord Apparated to kill the family, the

"No, Master, please. Spare the Mudblood. Spare her. In exchange for her husband and child, please, I beg you, spare Lily." Severus pleaded.

"You wish for her to live Severus?" Voldemort's red gaze met Snape's brown eyes. "Then she shall. You have always been faithful to me, so this is your reward."

"Thank you, Master," Severus said humbly, his mind already racing to his next endeavor. He had to protect them, no matter how much he hated James, Lily was his main priority. She was all that mattered to him.

-X-X-X-

The house was in shambles. Severus approached the home of the Potters, his chest hurting with dread. The front door had been blown off of its hinges, thrown into the opposite wall. He stepped over the debris and mentally prepared himself for what he might find.

He saw James's body first, lifeless on the floor. His eyes were still open in shock, his glasses askew and his skin paler than death. Forcing himself to continue past that disturbing sight, he went up the stairs.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next.

Lily.

Her green eyes stared, unseeing at the wall in front of her. Her dark red hair was thrown behind her, and her skin was pale. Severus swallowed hard, wishing the vision was not true. She had died in front of the crib, and there Harry sat, his eyes wet with tears. Severus didn't care for the boy though. He fell to his knees beside Lily and cried.

"Lily, oh, Lily…you weren't supposed to die…" he gathered the woman into his arms. She was so cold, so numbingly, lifelessly cold. He kissed her white lips, his face contorted with unimaginable grief. How the boy survived, Severus didn't know, but he saw no remains of the Dark Lord anywhere. None of that mattered. "I loved you, oh, I loved you so much it _ached _Lily. But I let you marry _him. _If I had stopped this, if I had told you before, maybe this never would have happened. You'd still be alive…I could hear you laugh again, hear your voice, see your amazing smile…" Severus broke off here, sobbing as he held the body of his love in his arms, with baby Harry looking on.

-X-X-X-

Over the years, Severus taught at Hogwarts as Potions master. He failed to achieve the job he originally applied for, professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but he acted under Voldemort's previous orders to spy on Hogwarts and its students. Though the Dark Lord had disappeared, Snape was still a Death Eater. He was still loyal to his master.

But his loyalty also lied with Dumbledore. He was a member of the Order of Phoenix, and he protected Harry all through his years at Hogwarts. Even though he looked almost exactly like his father, the eyes of his mother made the difference. Her emerald eyes pierced him every time Harry looked at him, and instead of remembering that horrible night where he found her, he remembered what her eyes looked like when she was alive. When she was happy, when she was said, but never when she was dead. He couldn't live with that pain.

When the Dark Lord returned, Severus continued to play both sides. He was a Death Eater, a servant of Voldemort, but he was also a member of the Order. His arrangement with Dumbledore was one that could have only been made between true confidants and friends.

Killing Dumbledore was not an act of hatred or betrayal as Harry originally thought. It was an act of love for his friend, and of course, an act of love for Lily. Everything he did was for Lily. He showed that to Dumbledore when they made their agreement. His Patronus was the same as hers, a doe. He proved his love was everlasting.

-X-X-X-

_May 2__nd__, 1998_

When Voldemort ordered Nagini to kill him, the only thing Severus Snape thought of was Lily. Her face, her laugh, her voice. None of it had faded from his memory, though when Harry found him there, he only had one request.

"Look…at…me…" he gasped the words, the snake's poison seizing his blood and slowly killing him. He saw Harry's eyes, and in them, he saw Lily, one last time. That was all he needed. She was one worth dying for.

When Harry named his second son after him, Severus wasn't sure if he deserved the honor. He watched over them from above, after seeing Lily and James for the first time in years. She told him that she always knew how he felt, but that she could never return the same feelings. He understood and accepted this, and once again, he showed that eternal devotion that made him Severus Snape.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

A/N: I've been trying to re-immerse myself into writing Harry Potter fanfics, and I think this one was better than my other one-shot, _I Remember Your Name. _This one actually had factual information from the books that I looked up on the Harry Potter Wiki. So, yeah.

Hope you all liked it, and please, please review! :D

~Charmy


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